The American Heart Association (AHA), in partnership with Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), would like to hear your voice and gather your insights around how you, or your loved ones, make decisions related to the treatment of heart/vascular disease and stroke. Specifically, AHA and PCORI are interested in learning about the “decisional dilemmas” you face – your insights will help guide future research to improve heart health. Based on the input from you and others in the patient and caregiver community, we will identify important concerns and use the perspectives gained to target research towards what matters most. To hear more about the Challenge from the leaders of AHA and PCORI, click here.

This is an Ideation Challenge with a guaranteed award for ten submitters.

Overview

Once cardiovascular disease (CVD) is diagnosed, or an event happens (like heart attack or stroke), important decisions are required by a patient. Doctors will provide options and opinions, but the ultimate decisions will be up to the patient and their families. The Sponsors would like to fund research in these areas based on the personal stories of decisions that were, or need to be, made concerning the treatment of CVD and the major factors that influence those decisions. For example, are patients influenced more by length of life, quality of life, convenience, costs or other factors? There is also interest in what information is provided to patients to make those decisions. Is it complete? Timely? From a trusted source?

Submissions of patients, caregivers, family members or anyone with first-hand experience with the treatment of heart/vascular disease and stroke are being solicited to describe their decisions and the factors that influenced these decisions.

This is an Ideation Challenge, which has the following unique features:

There is a guaranteed award. The total payout will be $10,000, awarded to a total of ten submitters, at $1,000 each. The winners will only be chosen from those that complete all requirements and deliverables properly as determined by AHA and PCORI. The pool will be among those submissions describing the themes that are ultimately chosen to inform the subsequent researcher-based Challenge.

Note: All submissions must be on the Submission Form attached to the Challenge. You can find it in the right hand column as you face this page. The Submission Form includes some optional demographics data that the Seeker would like you to fill out as well as your response to the Challenge questions. You will just need to save the form, fill it out and upload it as your submission. You can add attachments to your submission if you wish, but you must use the Submission Form to be eligible for an award.

Submission forwarding occurs during the Challenge. Since submissions will be forwarded to AHA and PCORI throughout the Challenge, please make sure you upload only a finalized response. You can submit an updated version of your response only as a new submission. If you submit an updated version of your response, please clearly indicate the new items and/or edits compared to your previous submission. This will allow AHA and PCORI to quickly find the new information and determine how it improves your submission.

You are not required to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to AHA and PCORI. Rather, by submitting a response, you grant to AHA and PCORI a royalty-free, perpetual, and non-exclusive license to use any information included in submitted response.

Submissions to this Challenge must be received by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on June 9th, 2016.Late submissions will not be considered.

After the Challenge deadline, AHA and PCORI will complete the review process and make a decision with regards to the identification of award recipients. Contributors that submit a response will be notified on the status of their submissions; however, no detailed evaluation of individual submissions will be provided.

ABOUT THE SPONSORS

What is InnoCentive?

InnoCentive is the global innovation marketplace where creative minds solve some of the world's most important problems for cash awards up to $1 million. Commercial, governmental and humanitarian organizations engage with InnoCentive to solve problems that can impact humankind in areas ranging from the environment to medical advancements.

What is an InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge?

An InnoCentive Ideation™ Challenge is a broad question formulated to obtain access to new ideas, similar to a global brainstorm for producing a breakthrough idea or market survey which may include ideas for a new product line, a new commercial application for a current product, or even a viral marketing idea to recruit new customers. Ideation™ Challenge submissions are typically about two written pages, and Seekers receive a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use all submissions.

In an Ideation™ Challenge, Solvers may:

Submit ideas of their own

Submit third party information that they have the right to use and further the authority to convey that right and the right to use and develop derivative works to Seekers

Submit information considered in the public domain without any limitations on use

Solvers should not reveal any confidential information in their submissions. Often the Ideation™ Challenge will be followed by one or more of the other three Challenge types to further develop the ideas and gain Intellectual Property protection when the concept has been well-defined.